char subject[50][] = {"chaos", "away message"};
http://forums.megatokyo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB8&Number=400524#Post400524
Wed Feb 20 03:17 AM
[!--OOC: Recap is done. Making a new post so it's less confusing. We're back w/ Echo, Queslin, WoK and Jones, standing by their bikes. BG, I'm gonna get j00 for making me stay up late just to give you something to play off of ^_^; --]
The foursome walked back over to three bikes. Kitty looked slightly left-out.
"Ummmmm.... ^^;;; Can I ride with you, Queslin?"
"j00 b37," she smiled. Kitty happily hopped on behind the other girl. And they were off.
It would take about 5 minutes to get where they wanted to at the speed they were going, so said Echo's GPS. And since they were traveling at a relatively relaxed 100 km/hr, he finally had time to mentally sit back and think a little bit about events. Every so often Jones would shift his bike into neutral and redline his engine while coasting to express his impatience. But Queslin didn't want to go any faster because she had WoK on the back of her bike.
Echo's thoughts mostly just spun uselessly, though, and before he knew it they were approaching Dot's Another process interrupted his thoughts and he shifted into a more tactical mode. Figuring out that girl riding next to him, smiling and alive as her hair whipped happily in the wind, would have to wait 'till later. Five whole minutes of practically wasted thought was a *very* rare thing for a Doll. (Queslin had given WoK her helmet, since her own nanobot construction wasn't at nearly as much risk of damage from a motorcycle accident.)
What Echo saw up ahead made him stiffen. Queslin sent him an IM, and the window popped up in his mind's eye.
"I recognize those two people from back at the cabin." Queslin was in all-business mode now, too.
"Cabin?" Echo messaged back.
"From before you joined us." That seemed like a lifetime ago to her. "But anyway, they're friendly. Don't like the look of the wolf with them, though."
"Neither do I."
"You guys see that werewolf up there?" Jones interrupted their silent exchange. For a normal human without any kind of image-enhancing optics, the guy sure could see far.
"I see it," Echo spoke aloud to Jones. "You and I jump it when we get in close. Queslin, you keep Kitty at a safe distance and provide RPG support."
"Sniping with an RPG is l33t-tricky, but j00 bet I can do it. I'm agreed," said Queslin.
"I'm hungry," said Jones.
"Nani?"
"Agreed," the Shinobi winced.
--- Over to Fred, Gorion and wolf-Arianna we go ---
The threesome (and yes, the two bikes as well) had all noticed the three motorcycles racing toward them. Strangely, however, neither one of the men had noticed that Ari was still a wolf. Maybe she was masking it with her telepathic abilities, I dunno.
The motorcycles were coming toward them from the same side of the Buggy that the three had taken cover behind, so that the riders were plainly visible in the distance.
"I recognize those two girls from the cabin," Ari spoke directly into her companions' minds.
"Yeah, me too," echoed Gorion. "Dunno the two with them, though."
"Me either, but if they're with those two girls, they can't be bad, can they?"
"Maybe if they're chasing the girls..." Fred chimed in.
"We'd better be ready to take them, just in case," Gorion said. "But non-lethal."
As the motorcycles drew closer, the one carrying the two girls suddenly stopped. The driver now appeared to be carefully aiming a miniature grenade launcher at the dune buggy. Seconds stretched long as the two remaining bikes closed on them, accelerating.
The two bikes flew by, almost faster than anyone had expected. What they definitely *didn't* expect, however, was for the two riders to both leap at Arianna.
The next few moments were a blur. Echo and Jones had staggered their jumps so that Jones reached Ari first, katana raised high and arcing downward. Ari performed a complex and almost painful looking aerial maneuver, grabbing Jones' leg in her jaws and kicking with her back paws. One paw jammed into Jones' hand, stopping the sword. The Shinobi caught the other in the face. His leg, still gripped in Ari's jaws, became a pivot point. He spun around and smashed into the ground.
Echo was next. Ari was still recovering from her maneuver when Echo caught her in the midsection. They tumbled along the street, Echo trying to make a blow connect, and the wolf-girl desperately dodging. Echo couldn't kill her because his hero mode was running, but he was definitely trying for incapacitation. Crap this wolf was fast. Fred dashed around them and into their path. Somewhere, seemingly far away, two bikes finally toppled and ground to a stop on their sides, somewhat the worse for wear.
An RPG round from Queslin, just a warning shot really, had Gorion distracted as he safely detonated it with his psionic powers. Queslin didn't like people attacking her friends. And these f00s were *helping* the werewolf!
Echo and Ari's rolling tussle ended when Echo's back smacked up against Fred's outstretched hand. Echo felt a nanolink go up and knew he had badly misjudged somewhere. His body went rigid, and then slowly stood. The wolf-girl hung from his arm by her jaws, gnawing fiercely.
"You can let go now, Ari," Fred grinned. Ari released Echo's arm and tumbled to the ground. She shifted back into girl form, now sitting sprawled on the ground, propped up by her arms.
"A CSX, eh?" Fred continued. "I thought Sony had given---No, you're not a CSX, are you? Your hardware is different, very different. And what an AI, too! Very interesting..."
--- Back to Queslin for a moment ---
Queslin waited tensely for a clean shot, the aiming piece on her RPG raised to her eye. The battle was not going well for Echo and that loudly-dressed ninja. Then the wolf did something unexpected by changing into a girl that Queslin instantly recognized.
"She's from the cabin too!" Queslin and WoK exclaimed simultaneously.
"Hang on!" cried Queslin, gunning the bike's engine. "We've gotta go save 0u|2 f00s from themselves!" Kitty grabbed onto Queslin's waist for dear life as they sped off.
--- Back to our battling buffoons, to finish off ---
Jones had recovered from the attack that had floored him a moment ago, and was limp-running toward Echo and the two others. But a leg-sweep from behind made sure he didn't get far. Gorion, the perpetrator of the leg-sweep, caught Jones' arms in a judo hold. The two men began a struggle of wills and strength.
Echo could feel Fred poking around further inside his programming. "Not THERE! If ANYWHERE, NOT THERE!" he thought at the invader fiercely. Echo hated having anyone inside his head like this, but certain areas were far more sensitive than others.
"Oh, sorry," came a reply that echoed through the Doll's thoughts, surprising him. A polite hacker? What surprised him more, though, was what his body began to do next.
Echo's limbs were suddenly not locked in place any more. He did a little dance.
[!--OOC: Is that enough of a tussle for j00, Arianna? ^___^ We please to aim! And yeah, technically, six trained tacticians on opposing sides *should* be able to recognize threats better than either of our teams do here. But I had to do *something*. ^_^
ok BG, the way is clear for you to walk in whenever you like. Anyone else here in our scene who wants to react first, well heck, go ahead!
I'm gonna be out of town until Monday. Hopefully, if BG gets a chance to set up for it tomorrow sometime, I'll be able to kick out one last tiny post before I go. Hoping to set Squee up good for some character work. ^_^ The cast list, regrettably, will be stuck as it is until Monday as well. No updating of that tomorrow, I'm quite sure.
Fred is talking like he does in the last part of the post because he was one of the scientists to work on the CSX project back when it started in the early '90s. He is to some degree the source of all the crazy technology used in Yukiko's first body, and quite possibly did some work on the original CSX combat AI, as well.
The area of Echo's mind that he is so sensitive about is kinda up in the air, really. To me it's just one of the subconsious areas of his basic Mode 00 that he doesn't like to tread in himself, much less let anyone else into.
Hey, I almost didn't write as much this time, 'eh? ^^;;; Be sure you don't miss _Quinn's post right above mine... I kinda flooded the forum just after he posted.
I'm sure there is more I wanted to write here, but I've gotta get up in 2 hours, for crap's sake. I'm goin' to bed. x_x --]